The Cards and their fans are preparing to invade Rupp Arena and that's not sitting so well with many in Big Blue Nation.

Crews spent Monday changing the floor at Rupp Arena to a more generic NCAA playing surface.

It's one of the many changes coming to Rupp Arena this week.

"Not supposed to have red there, it's always supposed to be blue, so a lot of frowns, not a lot of happy faces," said one UK fan.

That's the reality for UK fans, whose team won't have a chance to defend its national title.

This year's NCAA tournament begins with an ironic twist for hoops fans in the commonwealth.

Last year, UK opened its title run as the No. 1 overall seed at the KFC Yum Center; this time it's UofL as the top seed and they're starting things in Lexington.

"The fact that Louisville is going to be in Rupp Arena does not make me happy. It should always be UK in there and especially for them to be No. 1 and us not be in the tournament it does hurt," said another fan.

"It does make it worse I'm not going to lie, but at the same time, you know UK didn't have the best season, but we won a national championship last year, we can't complain," said fan Sarah Strombert.

Cards fan Mike Kernen, who bought tickets for the games this weekend, has a different opinion.

"I think it's great. Rick Pitino coming back to where he coached, and to coach Louisville on the floor he used to call home, I think it's a great scenario, situation," Kernen said.

Some say it's just one more wrinkle to an already deep rivalry in college basketball.

"I think they will get a lot of hazing for when there's fans walking around Lexington in Louisville gear. UK fans will probably not be happy about it," Cats fan Tyler Wilson said.

Even loyal Wildcat supporters feel the Cardinals' success keeps the spotlight on the state.

"I'm not really rooting for them, actually I'm kind of rooting against them, but it would be cool if they won, I guess," Wilson said.

UofL's second round game is expected to tip off around 6:50 p.m. Thursday in Rupp Arena.

UK President Eli Capilouto has offered his school's facilities to University of Louisville officials.

UofL President James Ramsey gave Capilouto and his staff a luxury box at the KFC Yum Center for last year's games.

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